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HP first-quarter revenues decline 6 per cent

Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) has posted net revenues of $28.4bn for the first-quarter ended 31 January 2013, a decrease of 6 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.

Net income fell by 16 per cent to $1.2bn, or 82 cents per diluted share, on an adjusted basis.

During the quarter, the company’s PC division sales fell by 8 per cent, while imaging and printing division’s pre-tax profit margin grew by nearly 4 percentage points to 16.1 per cent. HP’s printing business had been hit by a slowdown in the consumer market due to shift of its customers to online services.

Meanwhile, the slump in the PC market has halved the personal systems division’s pre-tax profit margin to 2.7 per cent.

Meg Whitman, CEO of HP, said that she needs five years to put the company fully back on its feet.

Cathie Lesjak, CFO of HP, described the latest results as “a constructive data point along the path to the turnaround” and HP’s biggest earnings outperformance in years. She said the company had reduced its excess inventory of printing supplies.

HP shares grew by more than 5 per cent to $18 in after-market trading on Thursday.